In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night
by NorseGirl23
Summary: Sophie Black was given a great responsibility, something she was dealing with. She comes under the notice of a government organization who kind of needs her help in dealing with a potential alien threat. That is where she meets him: Steve Rogers.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Read and review!

* * *

A young woman was sprawled across her bed and wrapped up in her blanket when her alarm clock rang. She fell out of bed when she tried to turn it off. A string of swear words left her mouth. She was definitely not a morning person.

Her name was Sophie Black, the youngest of two, and she never did act her age of eighteen. She prefered the carefree attitude of life. That was reflected on how she dressed, as well. Always the mismatched colors and strange combinations, not that she cared.

She slowly got ready for the day, choosing to look somewhat normal. There was hardly any time for her to do anything but grab a quick breakfast, and she was out the door in a matter of moments. That day she got into two really nasty fights, and one of the them probably made her break her nose. One football player (a cliche if there ever was one) loved to pick on one really smart kid into doing his homework for him. Of course, the kid refused, and the jock had to make an example of him. That was where Sophie came in. It was not much of a fight since one punch by him pretty much knocked her to the ground, but it was enough for the kid to get away. The second fight, well food fight, was more her style. That was how she embarrassed that same jock in front of his cronies. Tomorrow would be a difficult day for her to put it mildly.

Sophie was stuck in detention after school, bored out of her mind as the teacher on duty lectured her on the proper behavior of a lady. Someone forgot to mention to him that it was the twenty-first century. By those standards, she was acting like a lady.

No one noticed a strange green light moving through the school. It went around the different hallways, almost as if it was searching for someone. The green light came through an open door and into an almost empty classroom. It landed near a girl with red hair.

Sophie picked up the strange green ring that appeared on her desk.

* * *

_A strangely designed spacecraft was hurtling through space on the run from some vengeful creature. It crashed into the blue planet, and the impact mortally wounded its pilot. A green lantern-like object glowed to his right. With a wave of his hand, he made it vanish, and he took off the glowing green ring._

_"Go, old friend," he rasped. "Choose wisely."_

_With those words the ring was gone, searching for its most worthy new owner._

_"Hiding the ring will do you no good, Abin," a man in glowing yellow remarked._

_"I have not hidden it, Sinestro," the injured man, Abin, replied._

_"You couldn't stop me. What makes you think your replacement will fare any better?"_

_Abin laughed, rather painfully. His old friend never really understood, but as he lay dying, he began to hope that the new one will stop Sinesto._

* * *

Sophie stared at her new ring as she walked home from school. It was strange, but when did that ever stop her? The strange ring was cool! Her hand was covered in a green light, and strange voices filled her mind.

_"The Green Lanterns were created to keep order and peace across the universe,"_ an emotionless voice said. _ "The power ring is connected to the emerald energy of Will Power, and with it, you may create anything your mind will desire."_ Flashes of different beings using their rings to create weapons to protect the innocent followed those words. _ "Each ring chose a member of sentient races across the universe,"_ the voices continued. _"Seeing something within the chosen that most would not see."_ Apparently the first Green Lantern was a scribe. _"Sadly, recent events have shaken our numbers. One Lantern only saw his duty as a quest for the ultimate power. He did not see it as a grave responsibility, and we were forced to take back his ring."_ A man with red skin and a widow's peak was seen hurtling back to his homeworld. _"Now, he has harnessed the yellow power of Fear and has killed many of the Green Lanterns, always in search of their power. Stop him, child, else he will take your ring and ultimate destruction will rain across the universe."_

At her feet there laid a green lantern. For some reason she decided to place the ring in front of it, and she said the words floating in her mind:

_"In brightest day, in blackest night,_

_No evil shall escape my sight._

_Let all those who worship evil's might,_

_Beware my power Green Lantern's LIGHT!"_

The green light surrounded her, and she wore a green uniform type thing that glowed a faint green light, and she started to float.

"COOL!" She said excitedly.

Yellow chains surrounded her, pulling her to the ground. Not so cool. Floating near her was the man from those strange visions. He wore the similar uniform type thing as her, but his was yellow.

"I am Sinestro," he calmly said to her. "The Guardians of the Universe took my ring away out of the fear of my power." The yellow chains grew tighter. "Fear that I could be more powerful than them."

Sophie concentrated, and green light broke the yellow chains. "Whatever."

"Still weak," the man said. "Give me the ring, and I promise that I will only enslave your planet."

"For some reason, I don't believe you."

She created her own chains that wrapped around the man before her, but they did not hold strong. A yellow fist knocked her out of the air, and she fell to the ground. Hard.

_"Truth is, I am Iron Man. . ."_ Tony Stark's voice met her ears from the television inside the house she crashed near.

Sophie scramble to her feet, trying to come up with a plan to stop Sinestro.

"Your predecessor, Abin Sur, was more powerful, and he could not defeat me. Hand over your ring, and your death will be quick."

She winced and took off her ring, handing it over to the yellow glowing man. He greedily grabbed the ring and placed it on one of his fingers. Sinestro was about to use their combined powers, but Sophie's eyes glowed emerald green.

"Fake out," she mocked.

The man was shocked by green lightning, and the ring floated back to the girl. She created her own green fist and knocked the man to the ground, and Sophie quickly removed his yellow ring.

Both of them were surrounded by green light and vanished.

* * *

A man in a black suit, still mad about how the recent press conference went, witnessed the short fight between the girl and some kind of alien. He pulled out his cell phone and called one person on it who would have found that information rather useful.

"I may have a new recruit."

* * *

Sophie was at some kind of alien planet called Oa to witness Sinestro's sentencing and the destruction of the yellow ring. When all was finished, the girl stood before the aged and immortal Guardians of the Universe and took off her green ring.

"I don't think I'm the right person for this," she said, letting it rest in the palm of her hand. "I can't handle this kind of power."

The Guardians looked at her, and one in their number spoke up. "That is why you are the clear choice. You know of your power, and you will not misuse it."

"I'm more of a dreamer not a fighter," Sophie argued.

"The first Lantern was a scribe," another one said.

Sophie put the ring back on her finger, deciding to keep the thing.

Back at home, she found her older brother talking to a man in all black with a single eye patch. Her brother left them alone to talk.

"Sophie Black," the man said, eyeing her ring. "You have an interesting taste in jewelry."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.," he answered. "I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Almost two years after her epic fight of light and her strange conversation with a strange government man, Sophie found herself at home with nothing better to do. Over the past two years, Sophie matured, a lot. She kind of had to, carrying a great responsibility around with her constantly. Her family was extremely confused with her sudden change, not that they were complaining about it.

Those two years were interesting. When she was not being a real life Jedi, it seemed that the world around her was going crazy: Tony Stark blowing up his expo-thing; two gigantic creatures fighting each other in Harlem; a New Mexico town leveled to the ground by some strange event. Granted, she did know about the last one, but she was still confused over why the Guardians did not send her there to stop whatever happened.

There was a knock on her door, and she went to answer it. There stood a man in a black suit who rather calmly walked past her.

"I'm Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D.," he said. "Something happened recently that you are very qualified to deal with." He pointedly looked at her green ring and handed her a file.

She opened it to find a creepy, pale looking man with greasy black hair, and he wore green and gold armor and carried a staff. The next picture showed a glowing cube known as the Tesseract, not much information about that. It did sound kind of familiar.

"Loki is not from around here," the agent said. His tone of voice made her think he was talking about the weather and not the potential end of the world.

Sophie read through the events of the cube's theft. "It sounds familiar."

"What?"

"That cube. . .that staff. . ." She trailed off a bit. "Where have I heard of them before?" She shrugged. "I guess I can help."

"I'll be over tomorrow at seven to leave for base." Coulson handed her another file. "Try to get some sleep. I have a feeling you might need it with what we're dealing with."

* * *

Sophie read through the file that described six different people. Of course Tony Stark would be involved in this strange affair. His ego would not have it any other way. The strange instances in New Mexico were explained when she read up on Thor, and she could not help but feel a little ecstatic about that. Her father's family had some Norwegian blood. A simple doctor could turn into a giant green. . .thing if he was angry enough. That was pretty cool. . .and tragic once she thought about it. Two spies were next, and there was literally nothing she could read about them. All she knew were their names and faces. It turned out that one of them was brainwashed and working for the enemy.

The last person she read about, in the early hours of the morning, brought her up short. She remembered watching the old World War II propaganda movies in history class, and always one name stood out beyond the rest: Captain America. Her teachers all thought he was a symbol for wartime America, but she always thought there was more to it than that. Sophie could find no information about him besides those many propaganda movies. Reading his file, Sophie knew she was right those few years ago.

* * *

A knock on her door brought her out of her light sleep. Sophie stumbled to answer the door, and the same way too calm agent was waiting.

"You didn't get enough sleep," he noted.

"That packet was way too interesting," Sophie replied. "I can sleep on the way to wherever we're going."

Coulson kept his expression neutral and patiently waited as Sophie got ready for the day. She followed him to some unmarked black vehicle that screamed secret agent, and she was shocked to find them stopping in Brooklyn.

"What. . ." She began, but another stranger appeared.

Coulson had troubles keeping his neutral expression. A faint grin was fighting to appear, and if Sophie was not paying attention she would not have noticed it. The stranger faltered when he saw her. Sophie's new and strange eye color did that to people. Instead of blue, they were bright green because of her ring.

"You're the. . ." he faltered, and she nodded. "I'm Steve Rogers."

"Sophie Black."

* * *

"So this Dr. Banner was trying to recreate the serum they used on me?" Steve asked, watching clips of the Hulk in action.

"A lot of people were," Coulson answered. "You were the world's first superhero."

Steve made a face. "Didn't really go his way, did it?"

Coulson agreed. "When he's not that thing though, he's like a Stephen Hawking." That earned him a confused look. "He's like a. . .really smart person." The agent was trying to fight off a grin. "I got to say, it's a huge honor meeting you. We sort of met. I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve gave him a look, and they both heard a snort from Sophie. "I mean I was present. . .while you were unconscious. . ." Steve stood up, but the agent still followed. "From the ice!"

"I just hope I'm the man for the job," Steve muttered.

"You are," Coulson said with complete faith. "I have had a little design input for your uniform."

"Uniform?" Steve asked. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little. . .old fashioned?"

"With everything's happening and about to come a light," Coulson remarked. "We could use a little old fashioned."

Steve saw the young woman playing with her strange, green ring.

"What can that do?" He asked, sitting back down again.

"Anything."

He gave her a look. "I find that hard to believe."

"Too bad." She paused. "It's connected to my will power, so whatever I think this ring could create."

"That's unbelievable. Where did you get it?"

"It found me."

Not too long after, they landed on some ship, and Sophie rather stiffly followed them off the plane. Despite everything that happened in her two years, sitting still was painful for her. A woman with red hair that could rival Sophie's was there to greet them.

"Agent Romanoff," Coulson greeted. "Captain Rogers, Sophie Black."

"Ma'am," Steve greeted her, and Sophie just gave a half smile.

"Hi," Romanoff said and then looked to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face trace."

Coulson briskly walked away, leaving the three of them.

"There was quite the buzz around here after they found you," Romanoff told Steve as they were walking towards a nervous looking scientist. "Though Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards, yet?"

"Trading cards?" Steve asked in disbelief.

"They're vintage. He's very proud."

Steve walked faster to catch up with the doctor, leaving the two women behind.

"Do you know about Loki?" Romanoff asked. "From your. . ." She looked at the green ring Sophie had.

"Norse mythology," she answered. "That's all."

"What about the Tesseract?"

"I'm new to the Corps," Sophie said, but she paused. "They mentioned that they had some guy keep an eye on it, and they were a little peeved that he went back on his promise and sent it to Earth."

Both the Army man and the doctor were busy talking.

"Gentlemen," Romanoff said. "You might want to step inside. It's going to get a little hard to breathe."

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked in awe.

"Really?" Doctor Banner remarked, almost sarcastically, but Sophie could detect a hint of bitterness. "They want me in a submerge pressurized metal container?"

Sophie followed the two men to the edge of the ship, and they saw huge turbines. Not a submarine.

"Oh, no," Doctor Banner remarked, still trying to cover his bitterness with jokes. "This is much worse."

They came inside the strange ship, following the redheaded agent. Steve would look around him in awe, the man was from the forties after all. Bruce looked nervous, probably because he had not been inside a government owned structure in a while, and they were in the air. Sophie was just bored. She did see more awe-inspiring sights than a flying, technologically advanced battleship.

Steve walked past Nick Fury and handed him a bill, and the director pocketed it. Bruce was still looking around him rather uneasily until the director noticed him.

"Thank you for coming, Doctor," he said, holding out a hand.

Bruce looked at it a second before returning a handshake. "Thanks for asking nicely."

Then Bruce talked about science stuff that went way over Sophie's head, and she tuned him out. She looked around at the rather uptight agents around them, noticing the strange looks they were getting. Romanoff was looking at a picture of a man, and she did seem a little worried. She then lead Bruce to one of the labs, so he could look for the Tesseract. That left Sophie and Steve alone to find something to talk about, to lessen the awkwardness.

"How did you break your nose?" Steve asked, noticing her crooked nose.

Sophie absentmindedly touched her nose. "A fight. Couple years ago, some older kid was trying to get someone to do his homework for him. I didn't really win the fight. It was more of a distraction. Later on though, I embarrassed him by starting a food fight. He had nasty school mashed potatoes stuck in his hair all day." She chuckled at the memory, and she noticed the strange look he was giving her. "What?"

"That reminded me of something. . ." Steve trailed off.

Coulson was standing next to them. His neutral expression barely blocking out his smile, and he started talking to Steve about his trading cards, asking him to sign them. Steve rather absentmindedly agreed to sign them, and the neutral expression could barely stay in place for any longer.

"We got a hit," an agent said. "Stuttgart, Germany. He's not exactly hiding."

"Cap, Black, you're up," Fury said.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Please read and review! I'm trying to make it match the movie, but I'm going on memory here, and my memory isn't too good.

* * *

Loki walked out of the building. His armor appearing in a flash of gold and green light. People were running around him, trying to get as far enough away from him as possible. The deranged god seemed to find that very amusing.

He shot blue energy from his spear at an oncoming vehicle. He did not notice a flash of green light that kept it from flipping it and injuring the passengers. Copies of him appeared, blocking the potential escape routes for the people.

"Kneel before me," he commanded in a deep voice, but the people were still trying to get away from him. "I said KNEEL!" The crowd of people froze up and kneeled. There was no way for them to escape. "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes life's joy in a mad scramble for power or identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

An older German man stood to his feet, surprising Loki. "Not to men like you."

Loki smirked. "There are no men like me."

"There are always men like you.'

"Look to your elder, people," Loki ordered, pointing the scepter at the man. "Let him be an example."

He shot blue energy at the man, but it was blocked by a red, white, and blue shield. Loki was knocked to the ground. In the sidelines, someone in green was quickly leading people away from that area.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing," a man holding that shield said, walking to Loki. As he passed, people were slowing standing to their feet.

Loki glared as he got to his feet. "The soldier, the Man Out of Time!"

"I'm not the one who is out of time," the soldier remarked, motioning towards a jet appearing out of nowhere, and a young woman in all green, pointing a green ring at him.

"Loki!" The voice of Natasha Romanoff ordered. "Drop the weapon and stand down."

Loki shot more energy at the jet, and the soldier threw his shield at him which Loki knocked to the ground. The young woman in green created green shielding around the people, separating them from the two fighting.

"Go!" She yelled at the crowd.

"Kneel," she heard Loki spit at Captain America.

"Not today," the man said, kicking at the man with the scepter.

A green fist appeared, punching Loki and knocking him to the ground. Loki noticed her and smirked.

"The Guardians' standards have slipped," he mocked, getting back to his feet. "Choosing someone who knows fear."

Before Sophie could say anything, AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill" could be heard, and Iron Man appeared, shooting at Loki. The deranged god was on the ground.

"Make a move, Reindeer Games," the voice of Tony Stark challenged. Loki appeared to surrender. "Good choice."

Sophie created green chains to restrain him, and Steve grabbed his shield.

"Mr. Stark," he said in greeting, though the sound of his voice told he was not too happy to see the man.

"Captain," came Stark's reply.

* * *

"I don't like it," Steve remarked after staring at Loki. They were on the jet to the ship with Loki as their prisoner.

"What?" Tony said. "Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it being that easy," Steve said. "This guy packs a wallop."

"You're still pretty spry for an old man," Tony remarked. "What's your secret. . .pilates?"

That earned him a confused look. "What?"

"It's like calisthenics," Tony explained. "You might have missed a couple things doing time as a. . .capsicle."

"Really?" Sophie snorted. She was sitting across from Loki, playing with her ring and making sure he saw it. "Not something to joke about."

"And where do you come across alien tech?" Tony asked looking at her ring.

"How many times do I have to say that it found me?" Sophie said, glaring at Tony. "And it ain't technology. It's. . .I don't know what it is."

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Steve remarked, giving the young woman an apologetic look.

"There's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

It began thunder and lightning.

"Where's this coming from?" Sophie could hear Natasha mutter to herself.

Loki looked very bothered by the sudden appearance of the storm.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked. "Scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki muttered.

Sophie snickered. "Fear."

Loki glared at her. There was a loud thump on the top of the jet, and Loki got even more nervous. The three of them immediately sprung into action. Once Tony put on his helmet, he opened up the plane

"Wait," Sophie asked. "What are you doing?"

A tall blonde man with a hammer stormed onto the plane. He grabbed Loki and knocked Tony and Steve to the ground before twirling his hammer and flying off the plane. Sophie created a chain to the stranger's foot to hold him back, but it snapped when he hit his hammer against it.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha asked.

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve asked.

"Doesn't matter," Tony scrambled to his feet to go after the stranger. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

"Stark," Steve yelled. "We need a plan of attack."

"I have a plane," Tony said. "Attack."

With those words, Tony flew away from the ship. Steve sighed and grabbed a parachute.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha suggested.

"I don't see how I can," he replied.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."

"There's only one god, ma'am," Steve said. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

Pretty soon he was gone. Sophie thought for a moment.

"I'm going to go babysit," she yelled, and she too flew down to the action.

* * *

Sophie saw the stranger argue with Loki which ended when Iron Man tackled the blonde man, leaving Loki to watch their fight with interest.

"Idiots," she muttered to herself. Sophie landed near Loki and created chains to keep him from escaping.

"I don't see why they would choose a human," Loki mocked. "Pathetic. Your kind feels fear strongly."

"They didn't choose me," Sophie responded calmly. It was funny that he understood a little about the Green Lanterns, but he still missed out on the most important of details. "The ring did."

"It made the wrong choice," he continued. "You still feel fear. It chokes you up, doesn't it? You can't create these things." He gestured to the green chains.

Sophie laughed. "You still don't get it." She paused, thinking about the cube. "Who are you working for?"

Loki glared at her. "I work for no one!"

"Right. . ."

She heard a loud sound. Apparently the stranger hit his hammer against Steve's shield creating a massive explosion. Sophie created her own shield to protect herself from the flying debris.

The three men walked over to where Sophie was at, and they did look a little frazzled. Tony was chattering away over what just happened, but Steve and the stranger just ignored him.

"Leave it to you men to knock down an entire forest," Sophie commented, pointedly looking around her, but she did smile a little.

The stranger grabbed Loki to fly him back to the jet, and Tony followed, leaving Sophie and Steve on the ground.

"Grab my hand, Steve." She held out her left hand. "I'll take us up."

* * *

Loki was placed in a cell that Sophie was willing to bet was designed with Bruce in mind. She heard the deranged god taunt Fury who rather calmly brushed off his remarks.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Bruce joked when the video feed ended.

"Loki's going to drag this out," Steve remarked. "Thor, what's his plan?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor answered. "They are not of Asgard nor of any world known. He plans to lead them against your people."

Sophie muttered to herself. Chitauri. . .why did they sound familiar?

"I don't think we need to worry about Loki," Bruce remarked. "You can smell the crazy from him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor warned. "Loki is of Asgard and he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha deadpanned.

"He's adopted," Thor replied almost sheepishly.

"What do they need iridium for?" Bruce wondered out loud.

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony explained, sauntering into the meeting room. He turned to Coulson. "Take a week, I'll fly you over to Portland. Keep love alive." He looked at the group again. "That means the portal won't collapse in on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." He walked over to where Fury would normally stand, messing with the different screens as he spoke more science nonsense. He looked around him at the different agents. "Raise the mizen-mast. . .flip the top sails. . ." The agents looked at him like he was crazy. "That guy is playing Galaga. Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

Sophie was watching Fury when they talked about how Loki's scepter reminded Steve of those HYDRA weapons. The director quickly brushed that aside which only made her worried. Bruce and Tony left for the lab to look for the cube, and for the first time that night, Sophie wondered if she made the right decision to come along. That was until she decided to talk to Steve.

It was a strange conversation to say the least. Half the things she said made her receive a confused look from him, and she had to give a small explanation on what she meant. It was probably one of the easier conversations she ever had with a person, though. He never rolled his eyes at whatever she said, and the things he did say were not insulting or plain stupid. The fact that he would draw in his free time gave him even more points in her book. Sophie respected Steve.

"It must suck to know that the one object that messed up your life is still out there," Sophie remarked after a pause in their conversation.

He nodded. "They should have left it in the ocean. I don't care if they were using it for good. The temptation. . ."

"Is too much," Sophie agreed, twisting her ring. "Preaching to the choir." She thought for a little bit. "I don't think it's even supposed to be on Earth, if I remember correctly."

They came into the the lab, and the voices of Tony and Bruce met them.

"You should come by Stark Tower sometime," Tony said. "Top ten floors strictly R&D and no surprises.

"OW!" Bruce yelled.

"Nothing?" Tony asked, checking Bruce's eyes for the Hulk's green irises. "You really have a lid on it."

"Are you crazy?" Steve demanded when they came into the lab.

"Jury's out," Tony replied. "What's your secret? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is this a joke to you?" Steve demanded again.

"Funny things are."

"It's fine," Bruce said. "I wouldn't be here if I couldn't handle. . .pointy things."

"You're tiptoeing, big guy," Tony remarked. "You need to strut." He checked a small computer device.

"You need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve said.

"You think I'm not?" Tony said, eating some blueberries. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? Can't do the math unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"Cap, he's a spy," Tony explained. "He's THE spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bothering the others, too. Isn't it?" He looked between Bruce and Sophie.

Steve looked at them with questioning look.

"I said that the cube should not even be on this planet," Sophie defended. "Also the way he kind of brushed off your mentioning of the scepter-thing being similar to a HYDRA weapon."

"Doc?" Steve asked Bruce.

"Loki's jab at Fury about the cube," Bruce answered. " 'A warm light for all mankind' I think it was at you." He looked at Tony. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower, it would still have been on the news."

"Stark Tower?" Steve wondered. "That big ugl -" Tony gave him a wounded look. "building in New York?"

Bruce did not look up from his work. "It's powered by an Arc Reactor, a self-sustaining power source. That building will run itself for a year?"

Tony nodded. "It's only a prototype." He looked to Sophie and Steve. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

"And why weren't you called in on the Tesseract Project?" Bruce asked, driving home his point. "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption's done," Tony remarked looking at the device one more time.

"I'm sorry did you just say. . ." Steve said.

"So that's what you were doing," Sophie said causing Steve to give her a look. "What? If computers didn't hate me, I would've done the same thing."

Steve glared at Tony. "And yet you're confused on why they didn't want you around."

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" Tony defended himself. "Historically not awesome."

"Steve," Sophie said. "Tell me that this doesn't seem funny to you."

He looked at the three of them and walked out of the lab muttering about them needing to find the cube. Sophie thought for a moment and scrambled after him.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony wondered out loud.

* * *

She found him opening a door to a secure storage room.

"You agreed, don't you?" She commented, quietly.

"To a point," he mumbled and walked into the storage room, checking each crate.

Sophie did the same, and really she was not paying attention. She practically ran into the man when he stopped in front of two crates. He had opened both of them and was glaring at what was inside.

"I take it you saw them before," she muttered. "Clean energy my. . ."

"Come on," he said, grabbing one of the guns that would have been powered by the cube.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"So," Tony drew the word out. "What exactly is Phase Two?"

Fury was trying to find the words to explain that away.

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons," Steve came in practically throwing the gun on the table. "Sorry, computer's moving a little slow for me."

"You know we confiscated -" Fury tried to explain himself, but Tony, for once, chose the right time to be his obnoxious self.

"I'm sorry, Nick." He showed designs for some kind of warhead. "What? Were you lying?"

"I was wrong," Steve said. "The world hasn't changed a bit."

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha who came into the lab with Thor.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" She ignored the question.

"I was in Calcutta," Bruce said, giving a bitter laugh. "I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you," she explained.

"And you're doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because you're suddenly getting a little twitchy." Bruce looked at the weapon plans. "I want to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

During all this Fury was probably fighting the urge to start yelling, and he calmly thought of what to say. He pointed at Thor.

"It's because of him," he answered.

"Me?" Thor looked offended.

Sophie was glaring at the director. "His reasoning is what happened in New Mexico last year. You remember that?" She looked at Thor.

"Earth had a visitor from another planet that had a grudge match that leveled an entire town," Fury said. "We learned that not only are we not alone. We're hopelessly. . .hilariously outgunned."

Sophie played with her ring. "I'm here." The group all looked at her weirdly. "That's what we do, Green Lanterns."

"They protect their realms from certain threats," Thor agreed.

"If I recall," Fury glared at her, but she still did not back down. "You don't work for us. We can't trust you."

"Now, you're starting to sound like a control freak," Sophie started mocking. "Someone who refuses to walk the line. . .dangerous. . ."

"The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, can't be controlled." Fury glared at Sophie once more.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve pointed out.

"Your work with the Tesseract was what drove Loki to it," Thor said through clenched teeth.

"And his allies," Sophie finished. Her ring was glowing uncontrollably like it does when there was a threat near her.

"It's a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war," Thor continued.

"A higher form?" Steve asked.

"You forced our hand," Fury was still making up excuses. "We had to come up with something -"

"A nuclear deterrent?" Tony mocked. "Cause that calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury shot back.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, he'd be neck deep. . ." Steve said.

"Wait! How is this about me?"

"I'm sorry. Isn't everything."

Her ring grew brighter.

"Turn that thing off!" Fury ordered.

Sophie stared helplessly at her ring. "It's got a mind of its own."

"So, someone who can't control her weapon thinks she can protect us," Tony said.

"Leave her out of this," Steve said through clenched teeth.

"You're quick to defend someone you don't even know."

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor accused.

"Excuse me," Fury turned to him. "Do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

"I can defend myself, thank you," Sophie spat.

"You treat your champions with such distrust." Thor again.

"You are not our champions. . ." Fury was trying to explain.

"Are you really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats." Natasha decided to say something.

"Captain America's on threat watch?" Bruce asked like it was the most ridiculous thing.

"Wait they're watching you?" That was Tony. "Are you above or below green angry beast?"

"Stark, if you don't be quiet, so help me god. . ." Steve said rather ominously.

"Is that a threat?" Tony again. "I feel threatened!"

Sophie's ring was still glowing, but she noticed something that may have caused it. The scepter. . .

"Guys," she tried to get their attention, but they were all too invested in their bickering to notice. "Guys!"

Bruce was pacing around. "You want to know my secret, Natasha? You wanna know how I keep calm?" He was holding the scepter. Everyone was on alert, ready to strike if need be.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said in a calmly voice. "Please put down the scepter."

He looked at it like it appeared out of nowhere and shook his head, and he put it back on the table.

"Sorry, guys," he mumbled. "Guess you don't get to see my party trick after all."

There was an alert, and apparently the location of the cube was found.

"It deserves on Asgard," Thor bellowed.

"You don't get a say in this matter," Fury remarked.

"It shouldn't have been sent here in the first place," Sophie shot at the director and glared at the god. "Odin went back. . ."

"Have care how you speak," Thor warned. "That is my father of whom you insult."

"He broke a promise!"

"The Tesseract was given to a mortal of this realm to watch over."

"The treaty with the Guardians and Oa asked that it would never leave his treasure room!"

Thor and Sophie were arguing, and Tony and Steve were arguing.

"Oh, my god," Bruce said in confusion, and at that moment, an explosion knocked them all around.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Her ears were ringing, and she slowly scrambled to her feet. Little sharp burns came from the backs of her legs which meant that she probably crashed through a window. People were running around her, yelling about being attacked and getting a hold of weapons. Slowly, ever so slowly, her hearing returned, and she could hear Natasha trying to calm a freaking out Bruce. It was not working, and a loud roar that filled the carrier was the indication that things were about to get real.

Sophie stared at her ring, and for the first time since she got it, her will to move, to do anything, faltered. She was useless, and she did not like that feeling one bit. What caused that feeling? Was she really afraid? Did that deranged god's words finally get to her? Her argument with Thor, that was it.

He questioned her worthiness, like everyone else, but he was so. . .spot on. He saw past the wanting to help people and stuff, and he noticed that even after two years of carrying the heavy burden, she was still that immature girl who was always looking for a little excitement. Thor rather loudly denounced her for that. His words did what Loki's could not, they made her second guess herself.

Someone ran passed her, Coulson, and he was going straight to the weapons. He stopped, though, when he saw her. That man could make Sherlock Holmes proud. He knew what she was thinking.

"Ignore that," he said, pulling her along with him. "I've kept tabs on you. Ever since you got that ring, you changed. There was never a misuse of that power." The intruders were guarding the cell room, and he knocked them out with the strange weapon he was holding.

They came into the room to find Loki free and Thor in the cell. Loki was taunting Thor, apparently to set the cell free and kill the god of thunder. She was behind Coulson, and even she did not notice the clone of Loki coming closer to the agent. Coulson was too busy explaining his weapon in his calm and detached way, his version of threatening.

Then. . .

Thor was yelling in outrage, and Coulson was on the ground, bleeding. Wait. . .bleeding? Loki went back to messing with the cell, and Sophie really did not think. She leaped near the cell, but before she could create anything, she lost her footing causing her and the cell to fall about thirty thousand feet.

* * *

_She remembered talking to her brother after getting the ring. In his typical fashion, he did not see it as a monumental chance for her to mess up. Again. No, that man always saw the best in people, even his immature and hot tempered little sister._

_Late one night, though, he came into her room, a little nervous when he shook her awake. He showed her the glowing blue ring on his finger._

_"What's this?" He asked her._

_"A ring."_

_"I can see. . ." he muttered. None of them like being rudely awakened from their sleep. "It came into my room. What is it?"_

_Sophie looked at the blue ring. It was similar to hers, and it did glow in a blue light that was kind of like hers._

_"No clue," she finally answered. "They never said about other people."_

_It turned out he was a part of the Blue Lantern Corps, a group that was very new in formation that used hope to funnel their power which was appropriate for her brother with his optimistic outlook on life. The brother and the sister were stronger together when they were off fighting. Sophie began to realize that only focusing on one emotion may not always be a good thing. She was glad to not let her brother down._

_Coulson's words were almost like her brother's. Even when the hurtful words were true, they both saw passed them to find what was really underneath._

* * *

A flash of green light surrounded her, and she landed on the ground. At least she got it to work. Sophie rather frantically looked up at the sky above her to see if the others were okay. . .nothing. Of course. Leave it to S.H.I.E.L.D. to have an invisible ship in their possession. She weighed her options: fly to the invisible ship or fly to wherever the cube's been taken? Sophie's ring needed all the power it can get (had not charged it in a while), so she thought about one of their few arguments on the ship.

"Wow," she muttered when she made a guess on where the cube would be. "Leave it to someone with a big ego to massage someone else's."

In a flash of green light, Sophie became a Green Lantern, and she flew off to New York City. Tony was in the middle of falling out of a building, but his suit saved him. Then, there was a flash of blue light shooting straight into the sky, creating a portal for the aliens to come through. They both fought the aliens, but only a few at a time. There was so many of them.

A jet appeared, and Loki shot at it. She immediately went to save it from crashing into a building. Three haggard looking people came out of the jet, and they began running back in the direction of the Tower.

Sophie landed and followed them. She created dual green swords to fight the aliens. Their armor looked familiar, and again, she found herself wondering why and how she knew about them. What could be their significance? When it was over, she was definitely going to ask the Guardians about them.

Then there was Bruce who rather sheepishly walked over to them. Just as a giant worm-thing was flying towards them, chasing Tony, he turned into the Hulk and punched the creature. Then Tony used his repulsors on the creature, pretty much blowing it up. Everyone ducked or shielded themselves from the exploding creature.

The seven of them stood back to back, eyeing the creatures around them, and the Hulk was trying to out roar the Chitauri.

"Call it, Cap," was all Tony said.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

_"Call it, Cap."_

They were back to back watching the coming onslaught of the Chitauri, and Steve gave his orders. Tony took Clint up top to keep an eye on things, and Thor went closer to the portal to keep the oncoming numbers smaller. Sophie, Natasha, and Steve fought on the ground, and the Hulk, rather gleefully, smashed the different Chitauri handing off the buildings.

The fight went on. . .and on, but they had to soldier on. The world was at stake, and failure was not an option. No pressure or anything. She still had her dual green swords, and the Chitauri weapons could not, in any way, break through her constructs.

Sophie did start thinking, though,, and she got a little creative. The swords were ditched for more creative means which was more her style to begin with. She created mazes that confused a number of the Chitauri and let civilians run to safety. The mazes turned to traps for the Hulk to attack. Her concentration was split, though. The collapsing buildings were a problem, and she protected the running civilians and her team from the crashing debris.

Soon, Natasha was at the source of the portal, trying to find a way to close the portal and stop the onslaught. Steve was at a bank, trying to save the huddled civilians from the Chitauri. She ran in that general direction to find him flying out of the glass and landing on a parked car.

"Cap!" She yelled and ran towards him as he slowly got off the car.

He looked around him at the battle. Exhaustion was clear by the way he carried himself. She saw what he was looking at. The Hulk was swarmed by many Chitauri, and Clint not too long ago crashed through a window, out of arrows. Tony and Thor were still busy, but it was only a matter of time before they too would be overpowered. Sophie stared at her ring. It might not last through the battle since it had been awhile since she last charged the thing, and she did use it a lot that day.

Sophie and Steve were fighting again, but they were still coming through, well-rested and ready for a battle.

_"Guys,_" Natasha said over coms. _"I can close the portal. Does anybody copy?"_

What?" Steve was shocked into stop fighting. "Close it!"

_"Wait, don't,"_ Tony said.

"Tony they're still coming through," Sophie argued.

_"There's a nuke coming in, and I know just where to put it."_

"That will be a one way trip," Steve said, but Tony ignored him.

They watched as Tony got a hold of the nuke and fly it into the portal.

_"Should I call Miss Potts?"_ A robotic voice came over the coms.

_"Might as well,"_ came Tony's voice, full of regret.

The Chitauri stopped moving and fell to the ground, but they were not celebrating. Not yet.

"Close it," Steve said, closing his eyes like he did not want to see what would happen next. Just before the portal was fully closed, Tony appeared. "Son of a gun."

"He's moving too fast," Thor noticed and spun his hammer.

Sophie tried to will herself to fly or create something to save Tony, but her ring finally did power down. There was nothing she could do. Then a different flash of green leaped to the falling Tony. The Hulk caught him, and not to gently landed on the ground.

Tony, their teammate, was lying on the ground. The light at his chest was not glowing, and there were no quips coming from behind the faceplate. Thor ripped it off, and Steve checked his breathing. Nothing. This seemed to have bothered the Hulk who roared at the unconscious form, startling the snarky genius awake.

"What?" Tony said in surprise. Not unlike the way Sophie did whenever her friends would wake her during class. "What happened? Please tell me that nobody kissed me."

Sophie pointed at the Hulk, and Thor was trying to fight off laughter.

Steve looked around him in shock. "We won."

"Oh hey, good." Tony started babbling. "Let's not go to work tomorrow. Let's take a day. Ever had shawarma? I know this place. . ."

"We still have work to do," Thor said.

"Then shawarma after?"

* * *

Steve found Sophie, after they apprehended Loki, staring at the destruction of New York City. As always, the woman was twisting her ring, a nervous habit of hers. She was not dressed in that glowing green uniform from earlier, just in a t-shirt and sweatpants.

"You okay?" She asked him.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He responded.

She laughed. "But really. . ."

"I heal faster after the serum," he answered.

"No scar?" She said. "How are you going to tell the story of landing on a car in a middle of a fight?"

She was fighting a smirk, that much Steve could tell. She was teasing him, not mocking him.

"How do you tell people that you fly through space?" He shot back.

She laughed. "I do. Constantly. No one believes me for some reason. Oh well. It's their loss."

They both watched an irritated Tony glare at a Loki-sized hole on the floor of his tower, but they could tell he was good naturedly yelling at Bruce for not taking care of his stuff. All of them saw that certain security footage from the fight.

Steve heard Sophie telling Bruce:

_"The Other Guy and I have the same sense of humor. He and I will get along just fine."_

Everything that happened around them, she took in her stride like dealing with an army of aliens and a group of people who would rather fight each other than that army was an everyday occurrence. It was something he had to work on, especially in the new time he found himself in. In short, she was easy to get along with, if she already liked a person.

He noticed that her ring was dull, not even a hint of a green glow that it used to have. "What happened to your ring?"

"Needs to be charged," she answered. "I was lucky that it stopped working at the end of the fight instead of in the middle."

"You don't have unlimited power," he observed, remembering what he saw during the fight.

"Depends on how you look at it," she said, eyeing him. "I can create whatever I point my mind to, but it still needs to be charge from time to time."

"You keep saying it chose you," Steve wondered. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that it came to me when its previous wearer died," she answered, smiling, but she did get serious probably more so than Steve saw her before. "I've been told that the ring knows more about a person than the person himself, looking for the right qualities. Apparently two years ago, I deserved the ring."

"Erskine did the same for me," Steve said. "When he wanted me for the serum."

"So what did Stark tell you back. . .up there?" Sophie asked, noting the way he said that piece of information. "I was too busy dealing with Hammerhead."

"It was mostly about the serum."

"Wow. They are clueless, huh?"

* * *

They gathered to watch Thor take Loki back to Asgard. Agents in suits guarded the perimeter, the seven of them (plus Loki and some scientist named Selvig) gathered together as the cube made its final appearance. Steve glared at it (it did mess up his life), but Thor took it and used it to get back to Asgard. He did finally honored his father's promise to the Guardians. When the two of them vanished in a flash of bright blue light, the remaining six planned to go their separate ways. Clint and Natasha just up and left, claiming the both of them were in for a long overdue vacation. After a constant stream of wheedling and requesting, Bruce went to the Tower with Tony. That left Sophie and Steve trying to figure out where to go.

"My brother should be coming," she said looking up at the sky. "If he hadn't forgotten."

"Didn't Fury offer you a place to stay?" Steve asked her, also looking up at the sky.

"So he could keep an eye on me? No thanks," she answered. "I don't think it's a good idea if S.H.I.E.L.D. has a hold on me."

Steve had to agree with her. A blue light appeared in the distance, and Sophie handed him a small piece of paper.

"My number," she explained, smiling at him. Her bright green eyes flashing with humor. "Call me sometime. Don't be a stranger!"

The blue light was a young man who looked like Sophie, her brother Steve guessed. Like her, he possessed a strange ring, but it was different. Her brother narrowed his eyes at Steve before giving him a mild greeting.

He handed his sister a beat-up bag which she opened to a glowing green object that looked very much like a lantern. Sophie placed her ring in front of it for a short period of time, mouthing something, and her ring began to glow again. The light surrounded her as she placed the lantern back in the bag.

"But really," she said with a smile before flying off. "Call."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

To say that she did not constantly check her cell phone would have been a lie. That thing was glued to Sophie's hand ever since she flew home with her brother. Of course her brother would tease her about it one moment and then go all big brother the next. It was an annoyance that added to her almost obsessive phone checking, making a stressful week drag by slowly.

"You don't even know the guy," her brother, Kyle, said. "The fact that he's a part of that place is further proof."

She rolled her eyes. "I know him better than you."

"Sophie," Kyle sighed. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

She chucked her phone at his head. Really, the big brother thing was annoying, and he of all people should know that she would fight her own battles and deal with the consequences. If anything those were what she was good at.

"Your phone's ringing," he said picking her phone up from the ground.

"Give me that!" She practically pounced at him and walked out of the room with her phone. "Hello?"

"Sophie." It was Steve.

"Oh, hey, Steve," she said, trying to keep calm. "How goes it?"

"Better than one would think," he answered. "What about you?"

"Brother's driving me crazy," she said. "But what else is new?"

They talked long enough for Sophie to ignore the nerves she got whenever she was on the phone with anybody. Kyle did try to listen in on her part of the conversation, but she would always move to a different part of the house. He got to be such a pest that she actually threw one of her shoes at him. Overprotective annoyance.

"What was that?" Steve asked when her brother swore when the shoe hit him.

"Just dealing with my brother," she answered, smirking at Kyle.

* * *

Sophie came back to New York after struggling through her finals. The city was slowly bouncing back to what it once was, but she knew that there would always be that dark reminder of the invasion hanging over everyone's heads. Memorials were put up on different street corners of the people who did not quite make it past that one day in May.

She held onto her beat up bag tighter as she said some kind of prayer for the people she failed. There were people, though, who walked around the city wearing what looked like homemade shirts of the Avengers. For cleaning up S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mess, they made quite an impact on the people around the world.

"You flew all the way here," Steve said from behind her.

"Yeah," Sophie smiled to herself before she turned to look at him. "Just getting a little stir crazy." She smirked at him. "And to see you of course."

He laughed. "Stir crazy?"

"Brother's busy, so I can't really bother him," she answered, absentmindedly twisting her ring. "All my friends still have classes." She looked around them. "It's great to see how fast they're trying to bounce back after all that."

"Kind of had to," Steve agreed, leading her through his old haunts from before the war and telling her the stories of each part.

"Have anything against running?" She asked him after he told several stories where he got beaten up.

"You'll always end up running, if you do that," Steve said, having a faraway look to his eyes. "If you push back, they can't say no forever."

She smiled, but it faded when she saw the expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Someone's watching you," he answered. "Very closely."

That someone strolled to the two of them and gave them a sign for peace.

"I am here on behalf of Oa," the man said. "Green Lantern Sophie Black, you are on trial for the destruction of the system Rimbor."

"I am." She said it to get more information, but it did not come out as a question.

The stranger looked around him and pulled out a small square object. He brushed his hand across its smooth service. Images of Sophie fighting in space appeared, and one image in particular showed that his words were true. Sophie directed her green power at a defenseless planet, and that destroyed it. There was nothing left of the planet.

Steve looked at Sophie, who did not look like she was going to disagree with the charge anytime soon.

"You're saying you did this?" Steve demanded, realizing that despite everything she said earlier, she was just as bad as the rest of them when it came to power.

"Clearly I did," she answered, nodding at the small object, but the tightening around her mouth and the faint bitter tone to her voice showed that she was being accused of something she did not do.

_"The recent bombings done by the Mandarin have left federal investigators bewildered over the lack of forensic evidence. Word is that Tony Stark has taken up the investigation after his chief of security was caught in a recent Mandarin attack and hospitalized. . ."_ There was Tony Stark ranting on national television.

"I am Amon Sur," the man said. "The son of the Lantern who passed his ring on to you." He pocketed the object. "I will do all I can to prove your innocence in your trial, in memory of the good my father has done."

"Where's the trial?" Sophie asked.

"Where else?" The stranger, Amon Sur, said. "Oa."

Steve listened to their conversation, and he felt that whatever the man said, it rang false.

"I'll come with," he said.

Amon Sur turned to Steve, with a partial sneer, which he wiped off his face when he caught Sophie looking right at him.

"It could be a difficult journey for you," he tried to say, but a flash of blue signaled her brother's appearance.

"I've got him," her brother said. "He can help her clear her name since that is something you want, isn't it?"

* * *

Sophie was flying the stranger to the distant planet, and Steve was being guided by her brother, Kyle.

"I'm going out on a limb by saying you don't really trust Amon Sur?" Steve asked him.

"You kidding?" He replied. "Of course I don't. That man was waiting constantly for his father's ring to come to him, and he went ballistic when it didn't. He even told the Guardians that it should have never been in the hands of a primitive like her." The last part he spat out, clearly hating anyone who insulted his sister in such a way.

"When he said he'd help her," Steve remarked. "It sounded a little forced."

"You saw the clips of her crime, right?" Steve stiffly nodded. "I'm pretty good with that kind of stuff, and I could tell that they were faked, in some way."

"A primitive?" Steve said after awhile.

"No human has ever been a part of the Corps since her, and compared to everyone else, we are primitives."

They came across a planet surrounded by green light, the light same as Sophie's ring. Kyle and Steve landed in the planet, and Steve could not help but stare around him in wonder.

"Yeah," Kyle said in understanding. "Happened to both me and Sophie when we first came here."

Kyle was glowing blue, unlike the others who were around them, and those same people were looking at the two of them strangely.

"These are all sentient beings," Kyle explained. "From across the universe. You gotta admit this is pretty great."

"We should have been here under different circumstances," Steve said, seeing Sophie practically arguing with Amon.

"Agreed."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Please read and review! After this arc is completed, I'll put this on hold to wait for the other Marvel movies to come out. I have a vague idea on how to incorporate them into this story.

* * *

Sophie walked through the crowd of Lanterns, and she could feel their disgust bearing down on her as she was led to the citadel where the Guardians gathered. Amon Sur was next to her, her ring clenched in his hand, and she had a feeling that he would refuse to let it go, even if the Guardians would demand him to hand it over. Why he would be sent to collect her was something she would never figure out.

Her old teacher, Killowog, refused to even look at her when she walked past him. To be expected. It took a lot for her to earn his respect.

The clip of her destruction was played for all to see, and Sophie felt herself lost. There was really nothing for her to figure out how to get out of the problem. Even she thought she was guilty by watching the clip. It ended with her destroying the lone planet. She started crying. Sophie carelessly ended the lives of billions of people. She did not deserve that ring. There was no need to fight in that trial; she would take whatever punishment.

"Can't you see that?" Kyle started yelling. He floated to stand next to her, and he was glowing blue. Much to the displeasure of all the Corps and some of the Guardians. "The moon's still in orbit!"

"The poozeer's right!" Killowog said after watching the end of the clip again.

He and a small contingent of Green Lanterns went to that system and found how the planet was kept invisible. Sophie looked over at her brother and smiled. There was a reason why she was always so close to her brother. He never would give up on her. She could feel Steve's arm wrapped around her shoulders, and the three of them stared down the Corps.

It was Amon who refused to believe what her brother had said. He tapped his walking stick on the ground in anger and started yelling in a strange language.

"Any idea what he's screaming?" Kyle asked her.

"I can barely understand Spanish."

"He's not speaking Spanish."

"Idiot."

"You're only saying that to make me feel better," Kyle replied.

The Green Lantern group returned with the news that the planet that was known as Rimbor was fine and well, and that someone had used high tech machines to create the illusion of a destroyed planet. The three of them were full of relief, and Killowog went to grab Sophie's ring from Amon Sur. The son of the legendary Green Lantern refused to let go of the ring, and Sophie focused on the faintly glowing ring. It floated to her, glowing brighter the closer it came to her.

"No!" Amon yelled. He hit his staff harder onto the ground, and yellow light surrounded him.

* * *

Steve saw Sophie and one of the Green Lanterns start to fight the man called Amon Sur. The two of them created chains to restrain the yellow glowing man. He started yelling in the strange language again. Around the gathering Lanterns, giant robots landed, and they surrounded the small group.

"What are those?" Steve asked. He pulled his shield from his portfolio.

"Robots?" Kyle said. "The Guardians seem pretty freaked out, though. I think."

The blue skinned group of people who sat up above the citadel watched the scene unfold in abject horror and shock.

One of the robots, the one Steve felt was the leader, shot at Sophie and the other Green Lantern. Steve threw his shield between Sophie's head and the shot made by the robot. She flinched around and caught the shield. Her concentration broke long enough for Amon Sur to break free from the green chains that restrained him.

"Fools!" Amon Sur started yelling. He started shooting yellow balls at Sophie, but she still had Steve's shield which she used to protect herself. "None may stop me when I have the Manhunters following me!"

"The what now?" Sophie yelled back at him.

"He said Manhunters," the other Green Lantern said, helpfully.

"Yeah, I heard, but what are they?"

"Those things right over there."

The two of them ran over to where Kyle and Steve were hiding. Sophie handed Steve his shield back with an apologetic smile.

"You got a plan?" Kyle asked her.

She gave him a look. "I usually make stuff up as I go along."

"How are you still alive?" Kyle asked.

"I've been wondering the same thing," the other Green Lantern commented.

"You're supposed to be on my side," Sophie said to him.

He shrugged. "I'm on no side, here."

"What do we deal with first?" Steve asked.

"I'm sorry, poozer, but I don't think that it would be a good idea if you join the fight," the other Green Lantern remarked. "This could be dangerous."

"He was the guy who led that group of people against the Chitauri swarm," Sophie explained. "You shoulda seen him, Killowog. Faced down like twenty of them at once."

Killowog looked at Steve in what one would consider wonder.

"It wasn't twenty," Steve corrected.

"Oh, right," Sophie said. She had the smile that held a glint of mischievousness. "Thirty. It was thirty of them."

Steve was watching the leader of the Manhunters making his way towards the part of the citadel that was glowing a strong green. The other Manhunters were working to keep the Green Lanterns from stopping his progress.

"What's over there?" He asked.

"That's the central power battery," Killowog explained.

"That can't be good," Kyle remarked.

The green light weakened, and the glowing light that surrounded around each of the battling Lanterns disappeared. The leader of the Manhunters floated over the citadel, and he was the new source of the green light.

"This power was meant for us," he yelled at the different Green Lanterns and the Guardians. "Now we have taken it back."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"So," Sophie said when the green Manhunter floated over them. "Now what?"

"We have to go after Amon," Kyle said.

"With what, poozer?" Killowog asked. "The Manhunters have the Green Light."

Steve was watching everything, and he shook his head. "Their leader hasn't given the power away."

"You guys deal with the yellow guy," Sophie said, running to the floating green Manhunter.

"Sophie!" Steve yelled, trying to stop her.

"It's be less noisy if you let her go," Kyle suggested.

Sophie tried to get Steve to let her arm go, and she looked up at him, willing him to let her do something. He let her go, and she ran to where the Green Light was the strongest. She had to duck and dodge, clumsily because she sucked at that sort of thing, from the energy blasts being shot by the other Manhunters, but Steve was behind her, protecting her with his shield. She stopped running and held her hand up.

"In brightest day, in blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight.

Let all those who worship evil's might,

Beware my power, Green Lantern's LIGHT!"

The green light sucked out of the Manhunters' leader and into Sophie's ring, and she put it back into the Central Power Battery, and all the Green Lantern's on Oa had their power back. Sophie and Killowog restrained each one of the Manhunters, and Kyle ran around finding different ways to depower them. One threat was out of the way.

Sophie looked at Amon Sur. He was still glowing yellow, and he did not look happy at all. The others were still dealing with the Manhunters, and it was only Sophie who engaged in the fight with the son of the son of the late great Green Lantern.

"My people had an empire when yours was still in its infancy," Amon practically spat those words. "The power of a god wasted on a savage like you."

Sophie shrugged. "You really know how to charm a woman."

* * *

Steve watched as Sophie and the alien create their own armor. Sophie's green armor was smaller and lighter, but Amon went a little overboard with his. She created two swords and would quickly move around him, slashing at him and then evading his movements. The other Lantern joined in, creating different chains for him to trip over. Amon made one wrong step while going after Sophie, and he stumbled back. She used that chance to knock his staff out of his hands. Both Sophie and the other Lantern had their rings pointed at Amon, and he held his hands up in apparent surrender.

Before they left, Sophie took Steve to a spot where they could see a lot of Oa.

"Isn't beautiful?" She asked him. "I always make a point of coming to this spot when I'm here."

The Green Light from the citadel shot up into the sky, almost bathing the city below in a warm green glow. The different structures were tall, but they were beautifully designed. He could see different Lanterns being trained, and even in that strange place, there was the familiar.

It was then he looked over at Sophie. She had that half-willful half mischievous smile on that he had grown so used to. The warm green glow made her red hair even brighter. He could almost see her true eye color. She grabbed his arm, and she leaned against him.

"It would be hard to go back," Steve said, shaking his head to clear it.

"Back is home," Sophie replied, and her smile turned sweet. "Nothing could ever compare to that."

* * *

Sophie remembered something important and found Killowog.

"The metal bugs from space were the Chitauri," she told him. "Why would I know about them?"

Killowog was thoughtful. "I don't know. We know about them, but beyond that, who knows."

Sophie scowled. "You were here longer, what do you know?"

"I'm sorry, poozer, but I know as much as you do about them."

Sophie made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. The universe held secrets that very few people knew, and the true nature of the Chitauri was apparently one of them.

"There's some trouble brewing in my sector," Killowog explained. "I have a feeling that I might need your help."

"Keep me posted," Sophie said, going back over to her brother and Steve.

* * *

Sophie flew Steve back to New York, but she stayed. The city was being rebuilt. It may not have been what it once was, but it did not look like a natural disaster rolled through. There was still the different memorials that adorned the properties closest to the Stark Tower. It helped that Tony had some of his circle help with the rebuilding process. It was also the fact that there really was aliens in the world, and the conquering of the world was too close.

Sophie grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. "What have you learned since your time?"

"The wars and the innovations for them."

She gave him a look. "Of course."

Sophie began scribbling a list down. "There are things that are so much a part of our culture that you need to know." She smiled at him. "It'll be fun. Trust me."

"Indiana Jones?"

"I think you would like those," she told him. "He fights Nazis."

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail?"

"A classic," she explained. "Me and my dad constantly quote it at home."

Sophie would vaguely explain bits of her list and would scrawl even more.

"Why would you help me?"

"It's what I do," she said. "Friends and stuff."

Steve sat next to her and watched as she wrote the list.

"Wait," she said, not even looking up from her task. "How can you read my handwriting? Hardly anyone can."

"It's not that bad," Steve answered.

She seemed to accept that.

"Okay," she said. "We should watch these movies and shows together."

Steve had her face him, and he was looking into her eyes. He grabbed some of her hair, wrapping it around his fingers.

"I'll be okay with that," he told her. He tipped her head up. "Just us."


End file.
